Angelus Bells

  A brief reflection on the lectionary readings for today The first reading taken from the book of Isaiah gives us yet another of the Old Testament prophecies that predicts the coming of the prince of peace. The God who will take command and instruct nations in the ways of peace. "They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks." Provides us with a visceral image of the power of this new king, a power to end all wars and send men into lives of peace. It is no coincidence today that the gospel tells the story of the centurion's servant. It's important to examine this situation in the historical and religious context of its time. The Romans were not only to the Jews an invader and an unjust occupier, but gentiles, they who were not of the Jewish heritage and faith. The centurion can be interpreted as representing all of us as humanity, approaching Jesus knowing of our incredible unworthiness. When Jesus responds that he will cure the ser...

  We often think about the second coming as some distant, mysterious event. It's a good thing to pause and reflect on the fact that, at one point the coming of Christ was in the very same perspective for generations of people. God chose you to live in the times following the Incarnation, the singular most transformative and important event in human history. God entered into the world to teach how to love, how to sacrifice and how to live a meaningful fulfilled life in union with him. God chose to nourish the human race with his very self, his body blood soul and divinity in the most holy eucharist. And you're here to live the experience of God coming into the world, into your world, transforming it, filling it with the light of his radiant love, giving it meaning beyond your wildest dreams. This advent, let Jesus once again enter your world. Invite him, treasure him and let him lead you. And your life will be full of meaning, joy and hope unto blessed eternity. God wants to fil...

                                 "The worst prison would be a closed heart."       “There is no evil to be faced that Christ does not face with us. There is no enemy that Christ has not already conquered. There is no cross to bear that Christ has not already borne for us, and does not now bear with us. And on the far side of every cross we find the newness of life in the Holy Spirit, that new life which will reach its fulfillment in the resurrection. This is our faith. This is our witness before the world.”  “Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth—in a word, to know himself.” “It is Jesus that you seek when you dream of happiness; He is waiting for you when nothing else you find satisfies you; He is the beauty to which you are so attracted; it is He who pr...

There has not been a saint in the history of the Church that has not be sustained, inspired and set ablaze by Our Lord's real presence in the Holy Eucharist of the Altar. Here are just a few reflections by saints and scholars on the depth and meaning of Our Lord's presence. Whether you are of faith, or you are not, whether the reality of the eucharist is something you struggle with or something that fills your soul I hope you find these excerpts as inspiring, moving and consoling as I have.                                                                         Prayer of Padre Pio Stay with me, Lord, because I am weak and I need Your strength, that I may not fall so often. Stay with me, Lord, for You are my life, and without You, I am without meaning and hope. Stay with me, Lord, for You are my light, a...

  Saint Teresa of Calcutta perhaps more commonly known as "Mother Teresa" became a cultural icon for her humanitarian work among the people of Calcutta (Now Kolkata) in India. In 1979 she won the Nobel Prize for her work, her highest earthly reward, although heavenly bliss was the greatest award in the eyes of this humble sister. Mother Teresa's message was the message the Catholic Church has proclaimed throughout its history: God's love is radical, transcending and extends to all people.  The especially practical meaning of practical love was not only understood by Mother Teresa, but fervently lived. She once said that "If you judge people, you have no time to love them." To embrace the human person, there can be no room for judgement, only love. When Saint Teresa carried Calcutta's sick and dying off the street to her hospice centers, she didn't judge them for the dirt of the dusty streets that covered them, nor for their weary and broken, sometime...

 Throughout history, it is the belief of many that the Mother of Christ has manifested herself to mankind, often bringing dire warnings, words of consolation and alleged visions of another world. The Catholic Church does not require people to believe in approved apparitions; it does not consider them a necessary part of salvation. Yet they are an established and pious tradition throughout history. An attempt to dive into the exact theology and history surrounding the sizeable number of approved apparitions is not the purpose of this post, but to rather try to outline a few of the more major apparitions and their implications. Catholic tradition states the belief is that the first Marian apparition was to James the Greater while he was preaching in what is modern day Spain, around the year 40 AD. James was struggling to bring converts to the Catholic faith, and filled with discouragement, lost himself in prayer at the banks of Ebro River which is now in modern day  Zaragoza. M...